Anger and polarization

I delivered the manuscript for Otherwise just yesterday.

Now I'm already stumbling across information I wish I had included in the book.

So this blog will now become a supplement of sorts to a book that won't be out until early next year. 

A good example is an article by Lee Drutman over at Miller-McCune.  It summarizes research on the role anger plays in political discourse.

To sum up his findings: much anger is rooted in fear.  It resolves feelings of uncertainty by finding someone to blame and lashing out at them.

Anger is a strong motivator to action, but it also tends to close down the ability to absorb new information that could mitigate the threat that evoked fear and anger in the first place.

Anger might engage and mobilize people, but it also polarizes them and promotes a politics of blame.

To be Otherwise, we have to understand the emotional roots of people's apparent pig-headedness.  

In Drutman's words "the answer is to spend more time acknowledging the complexities and ambiguities of public problems, trying to reduce certainty and blaming that leads to anger."

 

 

 

   

Comments

[Superannuation Fund]

There are many negative effects of anger. During the anger phase the minds becomes uncontrolled and becomes open to several external threats which are not managed well and thus result in some serious trouble. This is exactly why we see so much trouble around the world in the form wars and disputes among countries that are just not willing to control their emotions and resolve their issues peacefully.

[Diploma of Project Management]

Many organizations have anger-management programs for their most egregious bullies, but the reality is that the vast majority of employees will experience anger triggered by anything from a family quarrel to a lost parking space—and their work will suffer for it.

[Electrician Indiana]

Well I guess all I need to do is to keep myself not to get angry. LOL just kidding!